1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a casing apparatus for placing a predetermined number of containers, such as bottles, in a carton box, and, in particular, to a so-called wrap around caser for placing a predetermined number of containers on a blank sheet which is then folded into a box to have the containers enclosed therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wrap around caser is well known in the art and one such example is described in the Japanese Patent Laid-open Pub. No. 59-134122. As shown in this prior patent, in the prior art wrap around caser, articles, such as containers, are transported in a predetermined direction as riding on a conveyor belt and collected in a predetermined arrangement at a collection station. Then, the articles thus collected are moved onto the bottom or central section of a blank sheet which has been located onto a vertically movable table from a magazine housing a stack of blank sheets. The blank sheet typically has a central section, which is generally rectangular in shape and will define the bottom of a box when folded, and a flap section at each side of the central rectangular section, which can be folded to define a side wall of a box when folded. In this case, use may be made of a transport head which grabs the articles temporarily and move them onto the blank sheet. Then, a top pusher is moved downward and brought into contact with the top surfaces of the articles located on the vertically movable table, so that the table and also the articles and blank sheet placed thereon start to move downward. As the table moves downward along a predetermined path, the flap sections of the blank sheet are folded in a predetermined manner to define a box so as to wrap around the articles.
In the above-described prior apparatus, however, use is made of separate devices for moving the articles from the collection station onto the blank sheet on the table and for pushing the articles downward along a predetermined path to have the blank sheet folded in a predetermined manner, so that the articles are not continuously held during these steps. In other words, the articles must be set in a free state once they have been placed on a blank sheet on the table. Because of this, the articles are set in a rather unstable condition so that the articles may shift in position or fall down in some cases. This has been a hindrance in increasing the speed in such a wrap around caser. In addition, because of the provision of such separate components along a process line, the overall system tends to be large and provision must be made of a means for synchronizing these separate components, which is not economical.